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‘Woeful’ government plan to tackle pollution

Sir, The government’s consultation document on air pollution is woefully deficient, without a single specific proposal for national action (“Pollution plan leaves charges on diesel drivers to councils”, May 6). Instead, ministers have abdicated responsibility by delegating remedial action to local councils and then restricting the latter’s freedom to introduce charging schemes, and failing to provide funding for a scrappage scheme.

This is not unexpected. In recent years corporate interests have been defended at the expense of public health over issues such as plain packaging for cigarettes, minimum pricing for alcohol and a sugar tax. Even though voluntary schemes are seldom effective, at least individual harm is largely self-inflicted in these situations, and politicians can pretend that they are protecting individual choice. These arguments do…